Abstract
BackgroundNewborn telomere length sets telomere length for later life. At birth, telomere length is highly variable among newborns and the environmental factors during in utero life for this observation remain largely unidentified. Obesity during pregnancy might reflect an adverse nutritional status affecting pregnancy and offspring outcomes, but the association of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) with newborn telomere length, as a mechanism of maternal obesity, on the next generation has not been addressed.MethodsAverage relative telomere lengths were measured in cord blood (n = 743) and placental tissue (n = 702) samples using a quantitative real-time PCR method from newborns from the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort in Belgium. By using univariate and multivariable adjusted linear regression models we addressed the associations between pre-pregnancy BMI and cord blood and placental telomere lengths.ResultsMaternal age was 29.1 years (range, 17–44) and mean (SD) pre-pregnancy BMI was 24.1 (4.1) kg/m2. Decline in newborn telomere length occurred in parallel with higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI. Independent of maternal and paternal age at birth, maternal education, gestational age, newborn gender, ethnicity, birthweight, maternal smoking status, parity, cesarean section, and pregnancy complications, each kg/m2 increase in pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with a −0.50 % (95 % CI, −0.83 to −0.17 %; P = 0.003) shorter cord blood telomere length and a −0.66 % (95 % CI, −1.06 to −0.25 %; P = 0.002) shorter placental telomere length.ConclusionsMaternal pre-pregnancy BMI is associated with shorter newborn telomere lengths as reflected by cord blood and placental telomeres. These findings support the benefits of a pre-pregnancy healthy weight for promoting molecular longevity from early life onwards.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0689-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Newborn telomere length sets telomere length for later life
Written informed consent was obtained from all participating mothers
Because DNA was missing or of bad quality for cord blood DNA (n = 14) or for placental DNA (n = 57) or because telomere length measurements were too variable between triplicate measurements for cord blood telomere (n = 10) or placental telomere (n = 8), and because of missing data on maternal weight gain during pregnancy (n = 1), the final sample consisted of 743 mother-newborn pairs to study associations with cord blood telomere lengths and 702 mother-newborn pairs to study associations with placental telomeres (Additional file 1: Figure S1)
Summary
Telomere length is highly variable among newborns and the environmental factors during in utero life for this observation remain largely unidentified. Obesity during pregnancy might reflect an adverse nutritional status affecting pregnancy and offspring outcomes, but the association of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) with newborn telomere length, as a mechanism of maternal obesity, on the generation has not been addressed. Maternal overweight and obesity are well-known risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes and maternal body mass index (BMI) is associated with maternal blood glucose levels during pregnancy [1]. Even at birth newborn telomere lengths are highly variable [20, 21] and the rate of telomere shortening is higher during the first 4 years of life compared to later life [22]
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